


honey in your warm milk

by sunset_skies



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 00line are bffs mwah, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coming Out, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Secret Relationship, Sort of? - Freeform, basically chenhyuck go public with their relationship, idol chenle!, non idol hyuck!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:16:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22888312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunset_skies/pseuds/sunset_skies
Summary: There was one time, earlier into their relationship, that the security guards had asked Donghyuck why he came over so often. He just shrugged and said that he was tutoring his classmate who lived in the building, because no one could know that he was walking into the high-rise to smooch one of the country’s most famous young idols.(or: i wanted an excuse to write about hyuck calling chenle baby)
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Zhong Chen Le
Comments: 13
Kudos: 160





	honey in your warm milk

**Author's Note:**

> HI HELLO WELCOME!!!!
> 
> this has been in the works since summer of 2019 when nct came back to korea from their sm family concert (or whatever it's called) in japan and chenle Would Not leave hyuck's side at the airport arrivals,,,,, also this was around the time daniel & jihyo was announced and my brain just,,,, put two totally unrelated things together and birthed,,, whatever this is,,,,,
> 
> anyway! chenhyuck nation this is for u <3 i hope yall enjoy hehe :3
> 
> (title is from luna's i wish)

Donghyuck lurches forward as the bus skids to a stop, but he catches himself on the seat in front of him just before he hits his head on it. He stands from his seat and rushes to the doors as they open, and he jumps off onto the pavement, chirping his thanks to the bus driver.

Donghyuck can’t help the bounce in his steps as he walks towards the gates of the high-rise apartment complex. He greets the security guards at the gate with a warm smile, because although he doesn’t live here, he’s visited enough times to have struck up a few conversations with them while waiting for Chenle to come home.

There was one time, earlier into their relationship, that the security guards had asked Donghyuck why he came over so often. He just shrugged and said that he was tutoring his classmate who lived in the building, because no one could know that he was walking into the high-rise to smooch one of the country’s most famous young idols.

But then Chenle’s group got bigger, and soon they were getting booked for interviews and photoshoots for top magazines basically on the daily. About a month and a half ago, Chenle’s group had left to do a tour around Asia, and while Donghyuck got to see them kick off the tour in Seoul, he hasn’t seen Chenle since. Sure, they’d facetimed a few times, but most of the time it was after Chenle’s schedules, so he was always too tired and ended up falling asleep in the middle of the call. One time they tried to facetime while Chenle was getting his hair and makeup done, but that didn’t give them enough privacy, because saying things like “I love you, baby,” just didn’t seem like the best thing to say while Chenle’s members, managers and stylists were there with him.

But Chenle is finally back today - Donghyuck had gotten the text from Chenle earlier while he was studying at a Starbucks with Jaemin, saying, “ _hey im back!! omw back from the airport, wanna come over later? we can have pizza for dinner :DD_ ” and he immediately shot up from his seat, ignoring Jaemin’s confused look as he quickly packed up his stuff.

(“Sorry Jaem, gotta bounce,” Donghyuck said to Jaemin, but he wasn’t really sorry, not as he replied to Chenle with, “ _oh my god yes i cant wait to see you_ ,” grinning at his phone.

“Oiii, what’s that you’re smiling about, huh?” Jaemin questioned from across the table, wiggling his eyebrows. He leaned forward to take a peek at Donghyuck’s phone, but Donghyuck pulled away, sticking his tongue out at Jaemin.

Donghyuck snorts. “Maybe if you pass your bio exam, I’d tell you.”)

Donghyuck laughs to himself thinking about Jaemin’s words from earlier as he presses the elevator button to go to the 16th floor. Donghyuck doesn’t mean to be that one friend in the group who’s hoes-over-bros, but he hasn’t seen Chenle in over a month, so right now there’s nothing else that can top meeting him.

He gets to the 16th floor and makes his way to apartment number 16-02, raises a shaky hand, and rings the bell. He doesn’t know why he’s shaking, could be nerves, could be excitement, and he keeps adjusting his stance and tip-toeing for some reason, but then he hears some shuffling from the other side of the door and he freezes.

The door cracks open, and Chenle’s grinning face appears from behind it.

“Hyung!”

Chenle pulls Donghyuck into the apartment and quickly shuts the door before any of his neighbours sees. Donghyuck stumbles over a few pairs of shoes in the foyer, and then Chenle’s spinning him around to face him, arms coming to wrap around Donghyuck’s shoulders.

Donghyuck’s arms automatically circle around Chenle’s waist, and their faces are only inches apart as Chenle looks down at him, smiling. Donghyuck notices the way Chenle’s eyes dart around his face as if taking him in properly; this makes Donghyuck giggle. He buries his face in the juncture of Chenle’s neck, breathing in the clean scent of his shower gel.

“Missed you so much, baby,” Donghyuck mumbles against Chenle’s skin, and Chenle shudders and giggles from the tickling sensation.

He pulls Donghyuck even closer, places his chin on the top of Donghyuck’s head. He sighs and nuzzles into Donghyuck’s hair even more. “Missed you too, hyung.”

“Okay, what’s up with you?”

Donghyuck looks up from his phone from where he’s texting Chenle, but he continues to type away as he turns to Renjun. “Huh?”

Renjun jerks his chin at Donghyuck’s phone. “You’ve been smiling at that thing the whole day. Who are you texting that’s not any of us?” he says, then promptly shoves a spoonful of rice into his mouth.

Donghyuck glances at Jeno, sitting next to Renjun, when his spoon stops halfway between his plate and his mouth at Renjun’s words. He gives him a stern look, and Jeno raises his eyebrows in response. Having been friends since high school and now roommates in college, it’s only natural he came clean to Jeno about him and Chenle. Jeno starts bringing the spoon to his mouth again and Donghyuck looks back at Renjun.

“First of all, fuck you, you guys aren’t the only friends that I have,” Donghyuck retorts, sending the text before quickly putting his phone down on the table. He jabs one of Jeno’s chicken pieces with a chopstick and shoves it in his mouth.

“But Renjun,” Jeno quips mid-chew, raising a finger in the air. He swallows the food in his mouth before continuing. “You act as if Hyuck isn’t doing some dumb shit on his phone like, all the time.”

Donghyuck appreciates Jeno trying to cover for him, but he chokes on his chicken regardless. “Fuck you, too, Jeno.”

At that moment Jaemin walks over and sets his tray down next to Donghyuck’s, and Donghyuck steals a fry from his plate and gestures at him with it in greeting.

“Hey guys! Why are we fucking each other?” Jaemin says a bit too loud so that it makes a few heads turn in their direction, and it makes Donghyuck want to curl up into a ball and fade into nothingness (but not before he kicks Jaemin’s knees in). From the way Jeno tightens his hoodie strings and starts slumping in his seat, Donghyuck can tell he wants to do the same.

Renjun runs a hand down his face. “Not so fucking loud, dumbass,” he groans, making Jaemin throw his head back in a fit of laughter.

“Okay, but seriously,” Jaemin says after dropping into the seat next to Donghyuck. “What’s up?”

Jeno shrugs. “Renjun’s calling Hyuckie out for being on his phone all the time,” he says, nonchalant. “And honestly I think Renjun sounds like an overbearing mom because of it.”

Renjun lets out a scandalised gasp while Donghyuck flings a hand in Jeno’s direction. “Thank you!” He groans, then smiles exaggeratedly at Jeno. “You know you’re my favourite, right?”

Jeno smiles, eyes turning into slits as Donghyuck lifts a hand to pet him on the head. Out of the corner of his eye, Donghyuck sees Renjun shake his head. “Y’all are fakes. You hurt me!” Renjun says exaggeratedly, turning to Jaemin and moving to steal one of his fries.

“Actually,” Jaemin starts, swatting at Renjun’s hand in a useless attempt to protect his fries. “That reminds me!” He gives up on protecting the fries and leans forward in his seat, eyes widening at Jeno and Renjun in front of him, all while pointing a fry at Donghyuck in accusation. “Yesterday we were studying together, right? But then he got a text and he got all smiley and shit and then he just suddenly-,” he flings the french fry around exaggeratedly. “-upped and away.”

Jaemin leans back in his seat then, a smug look on his face. “Explain that, Hyuckie,” he says, biting into the fry he was just so excitedly flinging in front of Donghyuck’s face earlier.

It’s Donghyuck’s turn to fling around a french fry in front of Jaemin’s face now. “I said I’d tell you if you pass your bio exam, and speaking of which, you just had it, right? How did it go?”

Renjun lets out a cackle. “Don’t think I don’t realise you’re trying to change the subject here, Hyuck.”

Donghyuck decides it’s fun to keep his friends on their toes, so he shoves the fry in his mouth, looks down at his bare wrist, points to it and says with his mouth full, “Huh, would you look at the time! It’s time to walk my goldfish!”

And then he’s grateful that it’s Jaemin he’s sitting next to, because if it were Renjun, he wouldn’t be picking up his tray and walking away right now.

The next time Donghyuck comes over to Chenle’s place is at 10pm on a Friday night a week after their last time together. Except that he doesn’t make it to Chenle’s doorstep, because just as he’s about to press the elevator button at the lobby, he gets a text from Chenle that says, “wait don’t come up!! we’re going out tonight~”

So Donghyuck waits in the lobby until Chenle comes down, dressed in all black head to toe, complete with his signature camo-patterned cap and a black mask covering half his face. He has another mask in his hand, which he hands over to Donghyuck as he says, “I brought a mask for you too, just in case.”

“How am I supposed to kiss you with this on my face?” Donghyuck asks, pouting, but he takes the mask from Chenle’s hand anyway.

He can’t help but feel a bit of pride at the way Chenle’s ears start to redden.

“You can do that later,” Chenle says, clearing his throat when his voice cracks at the end of his sentence, and takes Donghyuck’s hand as they walk out the lobby. “When we’re at the park!”

They only let go of each other’s hands when they stop at a convenience store on the way to the park to get some ice cream, but as soon as they tear open the ice cream packaging, Donghyuck interlocks their fingers again.

“I really missed this,” Donghyuck says, sighing as they arrive at the park. “We never get to go out anymore since you debuted.”

Chenle nods, pulling down his mask to bite into his Melona bar. “I know. I really missed this too.”

They go straight to the deepest part of the park, which isn’t a lot, but it does the job because no one is around at this time. They settle on a bench that’s farthest from the streetlights, so if anyone did happen to pass by, they wouldn’t be able to recognise them.

Donghyuck doesn’t waste any time in taking his mask off and holding Chenle close, squeezing him in a hug as they look up at the night sky. Chenle giggles, arms hanging awkwardly, which causes all the melted parts of his Melona bar to slide off and fall to the ground with a loud plop.

Donghyuck stops and they both make sounds of disgust, quickly devouring the rest of their ice cream bars before it happens again. Donghyuck finishes his first, though, and hands the ice cream stick to Chenle, who scrunches his nose at him, but he gets up to throw it away anyway.

When Chenle comes back, he doesn’t sit back down on the bench. Instead, he holds a hand out for Donghyuck to take, smiles at him, and says, “Hyung. Play a nice song for us to dance to.”

So Donghyuck does, and when he takes Chenle’s hand, Chenle pulls him right into his embrace.

Donghyuck remembers when they got together.

It was when they lived in the trainee’s dorms together, before Donghyuck left his dream of performing on a stage to go to college instead. Donghyuck was lying in bed after a long day of practicing, already slipping in and out of consciousness from the sheer exhaustion of a full day of dance practice. He’d hoped to play a game or two of Overwatch when he came back from practice today, but even jumping in the shower hadn’t helped to quell the exhaustion, so he decided to forego the games and flopped straight onto his bed after his shower.

And yet, Chenle was still practicing the choreography they learned from earlier, determined to get every move down. And usually Donghyuck wouldn’t bother him, but that night he’d just been extra tired, and just wanted nothing more than Chenle to turn off the lights and lie down next to him.

“Chenle,” he’d grumbled, mustering just enough strength to even open his mouth to speak. “Aren’t you tired? Come to bed.”

It was a few seconds before Chenle turned off the song, and Donghyuck had dozed off in the next few minutes that Chenle left to wash up, but he came back to just as Chenle turned the lights off.

Donghyuck remembers motioning for Chenle to join him, patting the space on the bed next to him, and then Chenle slipping under the blankets next to him, despite the fact that he could’ve gone up to the top bunk instead. (But to be honest, that hadn’t been used ever since Chenle accidentally fell asleep next to Donghyuck a few weeks ago.)

Donghyuck remembers hooking a leg over Chenle’s waist and pulling him close to use him as a hugging pillow, remembers their noses knocking together from how close they were, remembers the giggle that fell from Chenle’s lips as he shook his head at Donghyuck’s clumsiness.

Donghyuck remembers bringing a hand up to squish at Chenle’s cheek, and he most definitely remembers exerting the effort to lift his head and bring his lips to Chenle’s cheek.

And then Chenle did the same to him, and when they woke up the next morning, they promised each other that they’d stay together. They promised they’d debut together, sing and dance on stage together, travel the world together.

And then three months later, Donghyuck left the company.

So sometimes, Donghyuck still wonders if Chenle hates him for that.

But when he’s holding Chenle in his arms like this, listening to Chenle’s laughter as they’re dancing under the streetlights in the park, Donghyuck’s worries go away.

They giggle as they move around the park in each other’s arms, and Chenle laughs the loudest when Donghyuck spins him around as the song nears the end, before pulling him back and catching him in his arms.

The song ends then, and Donghyuck brings a hand up to flip Chenle’s cap backwards. He lets his hand slide down so that he cups one side of Chenle’s face, his other arm snaking around his waist. Lets himself admire Chenle’s face in the dim yellow light for another while, sharp cheekbones and all, before he looks into it Chenle’s eyes and says, “What do you say, baby? Can I kiss you now?”

Chenle squirms shyly at the pet name, but he nods anyway, a soft smile on his lips.

“Yeah,” he whispers into the space between them.

Donghyuck caresses the top of Chenle’s cheekbones with his thumb, admiring the way Chenle’s eyes flutter closed, the way his breath hitches. Donghyuck smiles.

He tips his head up, and presses their lips together.

Donghyuck thinks all is well.

He still meets Chenle about once or twice a week because Chenle’s not actively promoting right now, so his schedule consists of the same old “practicing old songs but most of the time I’m free”. Sometimes they stay in, sometimes they go to the park, and a few nights ago on the day before Chenle’s group left for Japan to perform for a music festival, they actually went out and ate dinner at a restaurant down the road from Chenle’s place.

He gets proven wrong, however, when one Tuesday afternoon he walks out of his film class and finds Renjun waiting for him in the hallway outside, arms crossed and expression stern.

“We need to talk,” Renjun says, voice tight. He pushes off the wall and starts walking down the hall, a silent invitation for Donghyuck to follow him.

They end up in an empty classroom at the end of the hallway, Renjun promptly closing the door behind them. Donghyuck perches atop one of the desks, clutching the strap of his backpack in nervous anticipation - he’s never seen Renjun so tense before. He watches as Renjun fiddles, walking back and forth in front of him as he runs his hand through his hair.

“Renjun?” he prods, careful, and he flinches a bit when Renjun’s eyes flick towards him and he stops in his tracks. “If something’s wrong, just tell me.”

“‘Something’s wrong?!’” Renjun half-exclaims, arms flailing about in bewilderment before landing on his hips. He huffs and shakes his head. “You haven’t checked the news, have you?”

Donghyuck raises his eyebrows and makes a face in a silent no, and Renjun huffs again before pulling out his phone. Donghyuck watches as he scrolls a bit before tapping on an article and shoving the screen in his face.

Oh.

Something’s definitely wrong.

The words ‘ _Rising idol Zhong Chenle of NCT Dream caught on a date?_ ’ on the Dispatch article Renjun is showing him stare back at him, big and bold, taunting him, but what drains all the life from Donghyuck is the picture under the headline.

It’s of him and Chenle in the park, and even though it’s dark and grainy from being zoomed in too much, Donghyuck can still see Chenle’s bright orange hair peeking out from under his black hood. In the picture, Donghyuck has his hood up and his back towards the camera, but the angle the picture is taken from makes it easy to tell that Chenle’s cupping Donghyuck’s cheeks, leaning down for a kiss.

Donghyuck remembers that moment. It was when they were saying their goodbyes for the night, but Chenle pulled him back for one last kiss before they parted. He remembers hearing some rustling in the bushes as he walked away, but he brushed it off for a stray cat or something, and just ignored it. How naive of him.

Renjun’s voice is small when he says, “I’d recognise that slouch anywhere.” And Donghyuck honestly feels betrayed that of all things, Renjun had to recognise him by his fucking _slouch_.

Donghyuck clears his throat in an attempt to collect himself, placing his palms on the desk and leaning back. He looks up at Renjun, who’s looking at him expectantly, and raises an eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t keep up with all that celebrity bullshit, Jun?”

“Don’t-“ Renjun snaps, and Donghyuck flinches at the sudden volume of his voice. Renjun drops his head into his hands and groans. “I hope you realise the weight of this situation.”

Donghyuck sighs through his nose, contemplating. “I do,” he says quietly, and Renjun looks up at him.

“So you admit it? It’s you?” Renjun takes half a step towards him, eyes widening in anticipation for Donghyuck’s answer.

Donghyuck can’t help the smile that he cracks when he says, “Yeah.” He shakes his head a bit, thinks of the various weird facial expressions he’s seen Chenle make in his sleep. “Yeah, I’m dating the Zhong Chenle.”

“Fuck,” Renjun says, jaw dropping. He turns around and walks around in another circle, holding the sides of his head. “Holy fuck, dude.” He jumps in his spot a bit, and Donghyuck feels a grin forming on his face from watching his friend freaking out. Finally, Renjun turns to him with a big fat grin on his face.

“How the fuck did you manage to date literally the most talented singer in Korea without me knowing?”

Donghyuck glares at Renjun. “And how the fuck did you figure out that was me by my _slouch_? Seriously, of all things, my _slouch_?!”

Renjun grins even wider. “I was joking. Your hoodie was a dead giveaway, though. Who else would make a custom hoodie with a red ‘666’ printed on the back of it other than the devil himself?”

When Donghyuck returns to his dorm room that he shares with Jeno later on, Renjun trailing behind him, he finds Jaemin already perched on his bed, eyes glimmering and mouth stretched in a grin wide like a shark. Donghyuck sighs. “Renjun told you, didn’t he?”

“You piece of shit!” Jaemin just exclaims in response, jumping from the bed to tackle Donghyuck in a hug. Donghyuck sends a look at Jeno over Jaemin’s shoulder, and he smiles back, sheepish.

“Sorry, he wouldn’t stop singing the snowman song from Frozen unless I let him in,” Jeno explains, before getting up himself and making his way to wrap his arms around both Jaemin and Donghyuck. Renjun is the last to join them, but him joining the group hug ends up with them in a pile on Donghyuck’s meager twin bed, springs creaking under the weight of the four of them.

“Shit,” Donghyuck breathes, landing on the bed on his back as he stretches his arms over Renjun and Jaemin’s shoulders, pulling them down with him. In doing so, Jaemin pulls Jeno down with them too.

“Yeah, shit is the right word,” Renjun says, dropping down next to him, and on his right, Jaemin slaps his stomach.

“You really left me at Starbucks just so you could smooch some famous 18 year old,” Jaemin says pouting, jabbing at Donghyuck’s sides some more. “Did our two years of friendship really mean nothing to you?”

Donghyuck scoffs in mock incredulity. “Hey, I’ve known Chenle longer than I’ve known you.” He lifts his head and smirks down at Renjun and Jaemin. “Two years with you guys is nothing compared to the four I’ve known him for.”

Renjun groans, rolling his eyes, and Jeno chuckles, flipping onto his stomach. “Yeah? Tell Chenle he can square up, we’ve known each other for six,” he says, and they all holler at that.

“But seriously, Hyuck,” Jaemin says after, also flipping onto his stomach despite the tight fit for being stuck between Jeno and Donghyuck. He smiles. “I’m really happy for you.”

Renjun clears his throat, and Donghyuck can tell he’s about to say something that’ll make his heart sink. “So am I, but…” He peers up at Donghyuck, worry clearly evident in his expression. “What about him? His career? Has he said anything to you?”

“Um.” Donghyuck swallows the lump in his throat. “No, he’s still in Japan and last I checked he hasn’t said anything.” He closes his eyes and pulls an arm out from below Jaemin’s head, choosing to rub his temples instead, groaning. “Fuck, I can’t believe they’d out him like that while he’s not even in the country.”

“Hey,” Jeno calls, reaching over Jaemin’s shoulder to pat Donghyuck on the stomach. “It’ll be okay, maybe call him first and see how he’s doing?” Jaemin and Renjun nods at this.

It’s Chenle who calls Donghyuck first though, not long after that, and Donghyuck has to kick Jaemin and Renjun out of his room so that they don’t accidentally say something stupid to Chenle. He’ll introduce them to each other one day, but for now they need to sort out this mess.

“Hey Chenle,” Donghyuck says into the phone after bidding his goodbyes to Jaemin and Renjun, closing the door behind him.

Jeno stands from his seat on the other side of the room, holding up a post-it that says, ‘i’ll be in the lounge at the end of the hall,’ but Donghyuck grabs him by the wrist and sits him down next to him on his bed. He makes a face in disagreement, but he lies down next to Donghyuck anyway.

“ _Hey hyung_ ,” Chenle says from the other side of the line, and Donghyuck can tell something is off. His voice is choppy, his tone is uneven, and he sounds really, really tired. “ _Have you seen the news?_ ”

Donghyuck gulps. “About us?” he asks, voice small, and Chenle’s responding hum sounds even smaller. “Yeah, I have. Did your management say anything about it?”

Chenle is silent for a while, and then he takes a big, shaky breath, and Donghyuck just knows. So he braces himself, finds Jeno’s hand and holds it real tight, and takes a big breath himself.

“ _They-_ ,” Chenle stops again, takes another second to compose himself again, and Donghyuck starts to lose feeling.“ _They don’t want us seeing each other for a while_.”

Donghyuck’s mind goes blank. “Oh.”

“ _Yeah,_ ” Chenle sighs. “ _They said they’ll try to fix it, deny the rumours, but honestly… I don’t want to hide anymore, hyung._ ”

Donghyuck closes his eyes and lies back on his bed, sighing as he removes his sweaty hand from Jeno’s to pinch the bridge of his nose. “I don’t want to hide anymore either, baby, but what about your career?”

Because as much as Donghyuck would like to scream from the rooftops, tell the whole world about how much he loves Chenle, it's a luxury he can't afford when he's dating an idol. It's a luxury that Chenle can't afford, especially not when he's under the spotlight and scrutiny of the whole world, waiting until the exact moment he messes up to tear him to bits.

"You and the other guys have worked too hard for me to ruin it, Chenle," Donghyuck whispers into the phone, voice wavering.

" _No._ " Chenle sniffs, but his voice is stern when he says the next bit. " _No, you're not ruining anything. I love you and if I want the entire world to know it, then they will. I don't care if they turn their backs on me. They can curse at me all they want, but you've been there for me from the start and I'm not leaving you behind._ "

"Oh," is all Donghyuck can manage to say as the first tear rolls down his cheek.

Jeno's eyes widen at this, and he steals the phone from Donghyuck's hand before screaming into it himself. "Donghyuck's crying, what did you say to him?"

"No, Jeno!" Donghyuck chuckles through the tears, taking the phone back from Jeno and putting Chenle on speaker, who's ranting back in response to Jeno.

" _-didn't say anything! Well, I said something but I'd never say anything to hurt Hyuckie like that!_ " Chenle huffs, and Donghyuck giggles again. " _I wasn't breaking up with him, if that's what you were wondering._ "

Jeno sighs in relief, and Donghyuck chuckles. "If anything, Chenle was just saying the opposite," Donghyuck says, smug. "If I'd known you were going to say such lovely words, Chenle, I would've recorded that."

Chenle sputters on the other side of the line, and Donghyuck can imagine it, the blush decorating Chenle's cheeks and ears, him rubbing the back of his own neck as he paces around the room.

Donghyuck wipes his tears from his cheeks, chuckling. "You know you're my favourite, right, Chenle?" he says, and Jeno looks up at him, expression of mock betrayal.

"I can't believe you've done this," Jeno says, shaking his head, but he breaks out into a smile and gets up from the bed, waving his arms about. "If you're about to break into a whole spiel about how much you love Chenle, go ahead, but I'm done standing here third-wheeling."

Chenle laughs at that, and Donghyuck makes a face at Jeno as he walks back to his desk and puts his earphones on. Donghyuck turns back to his phone when it dings with a notification that says Chenle wants to switch to video call, and he scoffs. "I just cried, I don't think you’d want to see me in this state, baby."

" _We'll be even, then,_ " Chenle says, giggling. " _Show me your face? Please?_ "

Donghyuck sighs and gives in, turning on his camera, because he can't possibly deny Chenle like that. It takes a few seconds to connect, but soon he’s greeted by a pixelated image of Chenle waving at him on the screen. His nose and cheeks are red and his eyes are slightly puffy, and Donghyuck looks at his own image on the top corner of the screen before bringing a hand up to his face to cover his own similarly red and puffy eyes.

“Chenle, I look like a mess,” he groans, dragging a hand over his face. He knows it’ll mess up the light makeup he put on earlier, but he’s cried most of it off anyways so it doesn’t really matter anymore.

“ _So do I!_ ” Chenle exclaims back, cackling. He’s still smiling when he says, “ _You look beautiful regardless, hyung._ ”

“Oh, if only I could hear you say that in real life.” Donghyuck places a hand on his chest and sighs dramatically, and Chenle copies him, pouting.

“ _Aww, does hyung miss me?_ ” Chenle coos as he makes kissy faces at the camera.

Donghyuck smirks. “Oh baby, there isn’t a single second that goes by without me thinking of you.”

It’s weird, really, how if he thinks hard enough, he can imagine what it would be like if he was the one walking out the arrivals gate at the airport - how it’d be like walking out to cameras flashing in his face and the commotion of fans trying to catch his attention - all if only he’d stayed with the group.

And yet here Donghyuck stands at the barricade in front of the arrivals gate, surrounded by photographers and fans all the same, but their cameras pointed the other way. He used to entertain Chenle’s philosophical thoughts in their late night talks, about how a single person was so small and insignificant compared to the whole universe, but Donghyuck has never felt so invisible in his life until now.

But if there’s anything that Chenle’s not good at, it’s at making Donghyuck feel invisible, because he spots him as soon as the walks through the arrivals gate, stoic face brightening when their eyes meet.

It’s weird, really weird, how Donghyuck is freezing up right now, the only thing he can muster in greeting to his boyfriend being a small wave and an awkward smile. Maybe it’s nerves, maybe it’s because he hasn’t seen him for a while, and it’s definitely because Chenle motions for him to come forward while the rest of the world is watching.

Donghyuck stumbles as he shimmies to the front of the crowd following the group to the exit. A security guard tries to stop him on his way to Chenle, but Chenle signals the guard to let him through. There’s a collective gasp from the crowd, and then Chenle reaches for his hand, clasping it tightly, and pulls him closer.

“Um. You doing okay? How are you feeling?” Chenle says, intertwining their fingers. It’s a bit embarrassing doing this in front of so many people, and Donghyuck feels like ducking his head a bit more to evade the cameras being shoved in his face, but doing that won’t make them disappear. It’s all so overbearing - he’d expected this, prepared for this during his trainee years, and yet as he made his way to the airport, the prospect of it still dreaded him. Now that he’s really facing it, he feels a bit lightheaded, a bit like he’s being caged in.

“Like I’m the center of the universe,” Donghyuck mumbles. “But the irony is that nobody knows who I am.”

He looks out toward the crowd, to the confused and scandalised expressions of the countless people surrounding them, and gulps. All of a sudden he feels so self-conscious, so aware of the fact that he’s holding Chenle’s hand. His hand jerks away unconsciously, but Chenle tightens his grip on it, pulls him even closer.

Chenle leans in, and softly, he says, “Hey, hyung. Look at me.”

Donghyuck looks, and it’s like tunnel vision - the crowd disappears into the furthest parts of his mind and he focuses on Chenle and only him. Chenle starts to smile, and it’s the only thing keeping him grounded right now.

“Who cares what they think,” Chenle says flatly, side-eyeing the crowd, but then a playful smirk forms on his lips. “You’re the center of _my_ universe. Isn’t that enough?”

“Oh God.” Donghyuck groans. “ _Not_ helping, babe,” he says, but he can’t help the corners of his lips from turning up.

Chenle laughs, and for some reason, through the ruckus of the airport, it’s the only sound ringing clearly in Donghyuck’s ears. “I’m here for you, okay?” Chenle whispers. “You have me.”

At this point, Donghyuck thinks the smile he has is going to be permanently etched on his face.

“Yeah,” he says, and he can’t help his smile from widening. “Yeah, I have you.”

**Author's Note:**

> talk to me on twitter @666zhong!!! tell me what you think hehe


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